We’ve been told that trauma is the root of it all.

But what if part of the struggle isn’t just what happened to you…it’s how your body processes everything that’s happened?

In the SomaTerra Healing System, we don’t separate emotional, physical, and spiritual healing.
We understand the system is interconnected—and that means recovery has to happen on every level.

And one of the most overlooked levels in both mental health and recovery spaces?

• Methylation.
• Liver function.
• Biochemical individuality.

Methylation: The Biochemical Backbone of Mental Health

Let’s break it down simply.

Methylation is a process associated with the liver that happens billions of times in your body every day.

It helps with:

• Detoxification
• Hormone metabolism
• Brain chemistry (like serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine)
• Stress response
• DNA repair
• Cellular energy
• Immune system regulation

If methylation isn’t working well, nothing works well.

And for many people in recovery, trauma healing, or chronic illness, there’s a genetic reason behind this.

Enter the MTHFR and COMT Genes

Two of the most important gene variants related to methylation are:

MTHFR (Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase)

This gene helps convert folate into its active form, which fuels the entire methylation cycle.
Variants here (like C677T or A1298C) can impair detox, lead to low neurotransmitter levels, and increase susceptibility to:

•  Anxiety
• Depression
• Bipolar disorder
• Chronic fatigue
• Hormonal imbalances
• Even addiction

COMT (Catechol-O-methyltransferase)

This gene helps break down catecholamines—like dopamine, adrenaline, and estrogen. 

If your COMT is too slow, you may feel wired, anxious, sensitive to stimulants, and overwhelmed by stress or conflict.

If it’s too fast, you might struggle with motivation, low dopamine, and emotional flatness.

What This Means for Recovery

If you’ve ever felt like:

• You relapse or spiral despite “doing the work”
• You can’t tolerate alcohol, medications, or even supplements well
• Stress hits you harder than it seems to hit other people
• Your detox symptoms are intense or never-ending
• You crash after psychedelics or feel worse after therapy...you might be dealing with a methylation imbalance.

And this changes everything about how we approach healing.

Because when your body is biochemically overwhelmed,
your symptoms aren’t failure—they’re feedback.

The Liver’s Role in All of This

Your liver is ground zero for methylation, detoxification, and hormone balance.
It processes the metabolites of stress, medication, alcohol, and trauma—yes, trauma has chemistry too.

But if methylation is sluggish due to genetic SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms),
your liver gets overloaded—and that shows up as:

• Mood swings
• Cravings
• Fatigue
• Hormonal chaos
• Skin breakouts
• Anxiety or rage
• Brain fog
• Trouble regulating after stress or psychedelic experiences

In anything to do with mental health and recovery, a healthy liver isn't just helpful—it’s essential.
Because if your liver is backed up, so is your capacity to regulate, reset, and rise.

Why This Isn’t Talked About in Mainstream Recovery or Mental Health

Because we’re still stuck in binaries:

• Mind vs body
• Trauma vs biology
• Emotion vs inflammation

But in truth, the people I work with—the ones navigating long-term sobriety, nervous system healing, anxiety, depression, chronic illness, ADHD, or PTSD—are whole systems.

We can’t journal our way through liver congestion.

We can’t trauma-process our way out of neurotransmitter depletion.

And we can’t cold plunge our way through methylation blocks.

We need systems thinking.
And we need root-cause healing.

Liver Support as a Lifestyle Practice

This is why I teach liver support not as a detox trend—but as a lifelong rhythm.

Supporting methylation and liver function means:

• Eating nutrient-dense, folate-rich foods (like leafy greens, beets, liver, and eggs)
• Avoiding synthetic folic acid and using **methylated B vitamins** when needed
• Drinking plenty of water and sweating regularly
• Using bitter herbs like dandelion, milk thistle, and burdock root
• Sleeping deeply (your liver does most of its work overnight)
• Managing stress through movement, breath, and nervous system rituals
• Using castor oil packs, sauna, or gentle binders to ease the load

This isn’t about restriction or rigid rules.
It’s about repairing the terrain your nervous system lives in.

Because you’re not just recovering from what happened to you—
you’re rebuilding the system that has been working overtime to help you heal from it.

This Is the SomaTerra Way

At SomaTerra, we look at all of it:
Genetics. Trauma. Lifestyle. Spirit. Soil. Liver. Lived experience.

Because real recovery requires real integration.

And you can’t have true mental health without supporting the body it lives in.

Ready to go deeper?

• Download the free Spring Liver Support Guide HERE to learn how to start
• Join the free SomaTerra Healing Series —starting Saturday—to experience the full system

We're not here to chase healing.
We’re here to reclaim our rhythm.

With roots + resonance,
Jen